The world seems to have gone 3D crazy. Crowds are flocking to see the 3D movie Avatar; consumer electronics companies are promising 3DTVs and Blu-ray Disc players, and broadcasters, such as Sky, are set to launch 3DTV services. Fujifilm has also got in on the act with the Finepix Real 3D W1, a camera for the masses that captures …

COMMENTS

Doh

Sounds like a fun toy

When I got interested in stereo photography a couple of years ago, I did it by strapping two canon 350Ds together and my sophisticated synchronisation electronics took the form of the infra red remote control. :)

Not as bulky

even better 3D picture sharing method

An even better (because there's no associated costs, red/green glasses, or other hardware involved) method to share your 3D photos is to use www.start3d.com, which will render your 3D ".MPO" formatted files into nice "piku-piku" pictures - I won't try to explain, go see it at start3d.com. (And no, I'm not involved with the site, I'm just an owner of a Real 3D W1 camera).

Stereoscope

Ow my eyes

Not bad, but ooh I went cross-eyed trying to view the side-by-side shot....

I can't help but wonder if the advent of 3D TV etc is going to mean an even more ridiculous series of adverts on TV. "Look at how amazing the 3D picture is on this new Sony Bravia-3D television". "ooh, that's amazing" you think - before realising that you're watching it on a regular Samsung...

adverts

Would have been better...

...to choose a more realistic baseline, rather than the gimmicky 77mm. OTOH this is a gimmick sort of product. Viewmaster 3D images used baselines up to 4 feet.

I think we can expect more professional stereo cameras in the future. Adjustable baseline would be a creative boon. 1920 X 1080 movies are a must. Of course you could always wait for the $20K Panasonic P2HD, which also features optical toe in (convergance point) adjustment.

Nit Picking: The photo of the dripping water illustrates the importance of maintaining a vertical image plane for certain shots, although hardly annoing in a 2D photo, my poor old brain had trouble parsing drops of water falling at an angle.

Any more side by side shots?

Some of us already have a 3D display and don't have to resort to anaglyph glasses.

It looks neat - hopefully it will take off and the price will come down. It's not that excessively priced for the first offering of a mass market product, but it won't find widespread acceptance until the price comes down. I don't think I could justify one at the moment..

Great

One more 3D viewing option

Fujifilm recently announced a 3D dyesub:

http://fujifilm.co.uk/presscentre/news/index.php?id=1411

Remember, the built-in screen can display the images in 3D without the need for glasses or going cross-eyed. As does the picture frame, and the 3D prints - which you can send off to Fuji directly online (albiet at staggering cost).

As for the camera; the built-in 3D display works well, and the camera itself is easy to use. The ability to shoot 3D video easily is probably the most fun aspect!

Viewed at pixel level the image quality isn't perfect; those 10MP sensors are a bit noisy, and the consequent noise reduction can be a little overzealous at times. Shouldn't be a problem at small print sizes though or when viewed on the picture-frame.

Speaking of the 3D picture frame, it's also very nice, it uses a slightly different display technology to the camera, but it's also a "no special glasses" display. The picture frame is optimised for different people to stand around it and look at the images, whereas the camera screen is optimised for viewing by the photographer only.

The main problem for me is that it's simply far too expensive. At £199 I would have bought one, but at £499 it's hard to see it gaining any major market share, which is a shame as it's a really cool and genuinely innovative product IMO.

I just hope that Fujifilm stick with it long enough to make a cheaper and better version. It's possible now, but whether they'll do it is another question entirely... Fingers crossed!